Sheffield City Council has been accused of “cashing in on the historic character of the city” by backing plans to convert an old cotton mill and workhouse into housing.

Local business owners, who are currently based in the Georgian building in Kelham Island, have voiced their outrage that they will be evicted if the controversial plans submitted by Citu Developments are approved.

Christopher Perry, a silversmith based in the property on Alma Street, said: “The city has changed, the area has changed, and the problem is you’re about to remove, through granting this planning permission, over two hundred years of continuation of silversmithing and metalworking from the Kelham Island area.”

Mr Perry, who’s family business Perry Glossop & Co has been in the area since 2000, said that even if he relocates, he may be forced to move again.

He said: “What guarantee do we have that the next location within the city of Sheffield will not be deemed suitable for residential living area too?

“This is the second time this has happened to us, and it feels there is no longer an area designated to our profession, the profession that helped build Sheffield. The developers are cashing in on the historic character of the city.”

Despite Mr Perry and other business owner’s objections, the city council backed the application as necessary to meet Sheffield’s housing targets.

Planning officer, Lucy Bond, said the plan will “secure the long-term viable use of the building and deliver much-needed additional housing”.

She added: “I completely empathise with existing businesses in the building, there’s absolutely no questions about that.

“[But] even if we made a decision today to reject the proposal, that isn’t a guarantee that those tenants would be able to remain in that property because that’s not something the council control.”

In the Planning and Highways Committee meeting, held last Tuesday, councillors did question the plan and what it would mean for Sheffield’s heritage.

Cllr Roger Davison (Liberal Democrat) said: “I personally think any development which means that someone gains at the expense of somebody else is not a good decision.”

The committee voted to defer making a decision, concluding they did not have enough information on what the Sheffield Plan, the council’s draft development plan, said about industry.

Debate over the application has come at the same time as ongoing building work on Alma Street, which has frustrated some locals.

Diane Johnson, manager of the Fat Cat Pub on the street, gave her opinion. She said: “It’s shocking. It’s terrible, lorries are blocking the road.”

Full details on the planning application can be viewed here.